Football Banning Orders

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many football banning orders have been issued in each of the past of the five years for football supporters found guilty of racially or religiously aggravated public order offences.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: A football banning order is a preventative measure which is not issued as part of a sentence, or solely on the basis of an individual’s conviction offence. For the purpose of deciding whether to make a banning order, a court may consider a range of prosecution evidence in support of a banning order application.
	The Football Banning Orders Authority holds a range of data on extant football banning orders, including in some cases the relevant offences which initiated a banning order application. However, this is secondary to details of the banning order itself, and it is not possible in all cases to identify which banned individuals have been convicted of a racially or religiously aggravated public order offence. To do so would require a manual exercise to review individual files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Israel

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with the government of Israel concerning the reported destruction of fruit trees belonging to the Tent of Nations farm outside Nahalin village on 4 May; and whether they intend to encourage the payment of compensation.

Baroness Warsi: We have not raised this specific issue, including compensation, with the Israeli authorities. However, we repeatedly make clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concerns about continued demolitions of Palestinian property and the need to abide by their other obligations under international law. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised the issue of demolitions in general on 28 May with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office.

Lord’s Resistance Army

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the reports that Joseph Kony and senior members of the Lord’s Resistance Army are hiding in a Sudanese-controlled area of a disputed enclave bordering the Central African Republic.

Baroness Warsi: We have not been able to assess the veracity of reports that Joseph Kony and senior members of the Lords Resistance Army are hiding in a Sudanese-controlled area of a disputed enclave bordering the Central African Republic. However, we are aware of reports that local authorities in south-eastern Central African Republic (CAR) have been in contact with a contingent of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who have expressed an interest in surrendering.
	The British Government condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities carried out by the LRA. Although much reduced in numbers, the LRA remains an unprincipled, violent threat to civilians in the heart of Africa. The UK has consistently promoted a co-ordinated regional and international approach to defeating the LRA. We continue to encourage the UN and African Union to implement their counter-LRA strategies in full and bring Kony to justice.

Lord’s Resistance Army

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that senior Lord’s Resistance Army commanders are gathered in the north-east of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Baroness Warsi: We have not been able to assess the veracity of reports that senior members of the Lord’s Resistance Army are gathered in the north-east of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, we are aware of reports that local authorities in south-eastern CAR have been in contact with a contingent of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who have expressed an interest in surrendering.
	The British Government condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities carried out by the LRA. Although much reduced in numbers, the LRA remains an unprincipled, violent threat to civilians in the heart of Africa. The UK has consistently promoted a co-ordinated regional and international approach to defeating the LRA. We continue to encourage the UN and African Union to implement their counter-LRA strategies in full and bring Kony to justice.

Pupil Exclusions

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 May (WA 533), if school exclusion data for the years 1980 and 1990 are not held by the Department for Education, from where they can be obtained.

Lord Nash: Permanent exclusions data was first collected in 1994/95. Information on fixed period exclusions was only collected from 2003/04.
	Information on exclusion rates prior to 2005/06 was collected via the Termly Exclusions Survey rather than the School Census.

Pupil Exclusions

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it has been their policy for fixed-period exclusions from school to remain broadly constant over the past decade and for permanent exclusions to fall sharply year by year; if so, how they assess the outcome; and if not, how they account for the difference.

Lord Nash: Exclusion is a decision for headteachers alone to take. The Government does not set targets or expected levels for exclusion. Rather, the Government’s policy is that headteachers need to ensure good discipline in schools, in the interest of all their pupils, and should feel confident in using exclusion where they believe this is warranted by a pupil’s behaviour.

Racial Discrimination

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the factors contributing to the increased level of racial prejudice in Britain, as reported in the British Social Attitudes 31st report by NatCen; and what advice has been provided or is expected to be provided by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the matter in accordance with its statutory duties.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The figures from the British Social Attitudes survey do not show an increased level of prejudice, but are actually more complex. The figures fluctuate from year to year, but the long-term trends are a decline in self-reported prejudice. Causal factors are likely to include the aftermath of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, different attitudes to changing immigration and (in a positive way) the 2012 Olympics. The dataset can be viewed online at:
	http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/338779/selfreported-racial-prejudice-datafinal.pdf
	The Government has a comprehensive programme of activities to build strong and more united communities, tackle hate crime, harness the work of faith groups and commemorate our common heritage. I have placed in the Library illustrations which summarise our work, which also can be found online at:
	https://www.flickr.com/photos/communitiesuk/sets/72157644380501531/
	The Commission’s next periodic report on progress on its statutory duties, including tackling unlawful discrimination and harassment, is due to be published in 2015.

Schools: Discipline

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 May (WA 532) stating that the Ofsted Report for 2013 found there were 700,000 pupils in schools where behaviour is “just not good enough”, how many of these pupils were (1) under 10, (2) between 10 and 13, (3) over 13, (4) in local authority schools, (5) in academies, and (6) boys.

Lord Nash: Ofsted’s annual report (2012/13) indicates that around 700,000 pupils are in schools where behaviour needs to improve.
	This figure is based on Ofsted’s behaviour inspection judgement for 2013, which shows that nationally 8 per cent of schools in England are rated less than ‘good’, and the number of pupils on roll in schools taken from the rounded January 2013 School Census Data. Information in the form requested is not held by the Department.

Schools: Discipline

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 May (WA 532), of the just under a third of teachers who “did not have the confidence...to discipline pupils for unacceptable behaviour”, what proportion of those teachers were in (1) primary schools, (2) secondary schools, (3) local authority schools, and (4) academies.

Lord Nash: 29 per cent of secondary school teachers did not feel confident using disciplinary powers, compared to 17 per cent of primary school teachers. The Department for Education does not hold separate data for local authority schools and academies.

South Sudan

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts are being made to ensure that in South Sudan there is full co-operation with investigations into violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

Baroness Warsi: The UK remains deeply concerned by the scale of human rights violations and abuses in South Sudan since the start of the conflict in December. We have consistently stressed to all parties in the conflict the importance of thorough investigation into atrocities and the key role that accountability will play in the reconciliation and peace building process. We welcome the timely reporting of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission and the UN Human Rights division and support the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan in their investigations into the events of the last six months. My Hon Friend, the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds MP), the Minister for Africa, along with senior officials, has emphasised to South Sudanese Ministers the importance of full cooperation with these investigations. We will also pursue, during the 26th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) this month, the creation of a formal HRC mandate to strengthen and enhance efforts in this area.

Special Educational Needs

Baroness Uddin: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, based on the most recent data available, how many and what proportion of people with a special educational needs (SEN) statement are from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds; how many and what proportion of people with SEN but without a statement are BME; how many and what proportion of people with an autism spectrum disorder who possess an SEN statement are BME; how many and what proportion of people with an autism spectrum disorder but without an SEN statement are BME; and how the figures have changed over the past three years.

Lord Nash: The available information is given in the table.
	
		
			 Number and percentage of compulsory school age pupils(1), (2) and those with a primary need of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, with special educational needs (SEN) and ethnicity(3), January 2011 to January 2013 
			  All pupils Pupils with a primary need of Autistic Spectrum Disorder 
			  Total BME(4) Percentage BME(4) Total BME(4) Percentage BME(4) 
			 Statement of SEN   
			 2011 203,560 43,990 21.6 40,080 9,180 22.9 
			 2012 204,165 46,195 22.6 42,140 10,105 24.0 
			 2013 206,060 48,495 23.5 44,585 11,165 25.0 
			 SEN without a statement   
			 2011 1,305,930 333,455 25.5 .. .. .. 
			 2012 1,242,160 325,195 26.2 .. .. .. 
			 2013 1,166,095 309,990 26.6 .. .. .. 
		
	
	
		
			 Of which School Action Plus(5)   
			 2011 455,480 107,175 23.5 17,465 2,620 15.0 
			 2012 440,410 107,335 24.4 19,615 3,125 15.9 
			 2013 424,075 105,330 24.8 21,185 3,525 16.6 
		
	
	Source: School Census
	.. not available
	Figures rounded to the nearest 5.
	(1)
	Includes sole or dual main registrations at state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools.
	(2)
	Ethnicity is only collected for children who are of compulsory school age.
	(3)
	Ethnicity is unreported for around 2% of pupils.
	(4)
	Black and minority ethnic groups (BME) includes all reported ethnicities excluding White British.
	(5)
	Primary need is only collected for pupils at School Action Plus or with a statement of special educational need.
	Figures are published annually in the Statistical First Release ‘Special Educational Needs in England’ and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2013.

Travellers

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they have spent the 69 million euros, as reported in Appendix 5 of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Status Report of 2013, earmarked for the implementation of the Roma Strategy.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The United Kingdom is advancing Roma integration within broader social inclusion and integration policies. This is fully in line with commitments we have made at European Union level, and is the best approach in a diverse and decentralised country like the UK.
	On Page 32, the Status Report highlights that the Government is providing “approximately 72 million euros” for new and refurbished authorised traveller pitches in England, through the £60 million Traveller Pitch Funding programme.

Travellers: Education

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their report on pilots of a virtual head teacher system expressly aimed at redressing the inequalities in education experienced by Gypsies and Travellers.

Lord Nash: Two local authorities, Kent and Cambridgeshire, have been involved in piloting the role of a virtual head teacher who helped schools to engage with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils to improve their school attendance and attainment.
	These local authorities are currently finalising their summaries of the projects. The Department for Education will work with these authorities and the GRT education stakeholder group, chaired by the noble Lady, to determine the most appropriate way to disseminate the outcomes of this work.